5-year-old Piyush Bhat is still waiting for his mother's return. His older brother Aman has begun to accept that his parents might not be coming home. Their 70-year-old grandfather, a retired armyman, uses a grim military metaphor to illustrate his situation. He once fought for the country, and now he will fight to make a living for his grandchildren.

It was in the early hours of 1 July when a series of cloudbursts in Pithoragarh's Bastedi village arrived as a nightmare for its people. Aman and Piyush's parents managed to save their children but in an attempt to save fellow villagers, they were swept away.

Two consecutive cloudbursts had washed away virtually the entire village. It wasn't just Bastedi village. Several villages in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts lost people and homes. RESCUE OPERATION CHALLENGING

With the death toll touching almost 40 and untold numbers still buried under the debris of the deluge, Uttarakhand has had the worst deja vu imaginable. Authorities assembled teams from the NDRF, SDRF, SSB, ITBP, DMMC and local police to carry out rescue operations under the supervision of District Magistrates and SPs in the affected districts. But rescue operations have had their own set of challenges too.

Key roads were blocked because of heavy landslides, which delayed several rescue missions. Bulldozers and earth moving equipment couldn't reach several villages. Almost everything had to be done manually. As rescue teams continued to look for people who went missing, hopes of finding survivors gradually diminished. With just the first showers of this year's monsoon, several of Uttarakhand's villages were washed away in seconds. With a fresh alert issued by the Met Department, there remains one question: are the authorities prepared at least now? ALERT

Even though authorities assure that the situation is now under control, the agony of villagers has really only just begun. They need a roof to live under, to start life all over again. Senior citizens, parents, toddlers, the newly-married, nature's fury has spared none. Villagers said no one alerted them. Authorities say that it is always difficult to convince villagers to abandon the hills when there's peril ahead.

Officials also say the villagers staunchly believed that it takes 100 years for a disaster to hit the same area in Uttarakhand. Rescue agencies fished out dead bodies from layers of slush and debris and evacuated people stranded in far-fetched and remote sections. Many of them needed to be convinced to leave.

In 2013, Uttarakhand faced the wrath of Mother Nature as cloudbursts over Kedarnath and Rambada brought in flash floods and land slides causing destruction in unimaginable proportions. It swept away towns and villages. Roads, bridges, and lines of communication broke down and innumerable lives were lost. Those still alive, were in peril once again this time, reliving the fear and agony. LAND OF GODS?

The state of Uttarakhand, also known as the "Land of Gods," is home to multiple temples and pilgrimage sites for people of different faiths. Scenic beauty, the majestic lower Himalayan mountain ranges, forests, and the glacial origin of two rivers that feed northern India, the Ganga and Yamuna, also lie in this state. But those suffering wonder if those Gods are listening.

Though familiar with heavy downpours, the state was least prepared when the second calamity struck. As has often been the norm with both the central and the state government, the netas tried to attribute the cause of this havoc to the 'fury of Mother Nature', with people there almost convinced that they were poorly defending their inaction.

The country's leadership needs to be accountable and step up, say the villagers here. The only choice for India to handle climatic disasters is to practice sustainable growth and regulated development. Or face a future with the recurrent fury of Mother Nature that nobody will see coming.

It took three days for the Chief Minister to visit a devastated village. For Piyush and Aman, the wait for their parents will be much longer.